The online domain world will soon have three Xs marking certain spots, and starting next week companies will have a chance to reserve their brand on that domain.

Beginning Sept. 7, businesses and website operators will be able to buy and register domain names under the new .xxx suffix, which is aimed at the adult industry. The suffix joins .com, .net and other suffixes that are part of domain names and addresses.

From Sept. 7 to Oct. 28, non-adult companies with registered federal trademarks will be able to pay domain registries $225 per name to block others from using those sites for 10-years, said Brian LaCorte, a Phoenix attorney with the law office of Ballard Spahr LLP.

LaCorte, an intellectual property attorney, said it’s obvious for big companies and brands such as Pepsi, Best Buy, Microsoft or Taco Bell to protect their names from ..xxx use. Blocking a domain removes it from the pool of names available for use.

The question for other smaller non-adult businesses is whether they should fork over money to protect their brands and trademarks from becoming home to cybersquatters or porn website operators buying into the new domain names.

LaCorte said e-commerce businesses or those that see high web traffic likely should consider paying the money to avoid cybersquatting and image headaches down the road in case some porn purveyor from Las Vegas and the San Fernando Valley decides to glom onto their address. Pornography and adult websites are billion-dollar industries online.

Other intellectual property attorneys say it’s better to err on the side of caution and are encouraging clients to take advantage of the blocking time frame.

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